The Diocese of St Davidshttps://stdavids.churchinwales.org.uk
Thu, 05 Sep 2019 11:51:21 +0000en-US
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1 https://wordpress.org/?v=5.2.2Hafan y Waunhttps://stdavids.churchinwales.org.uk/news/2019/09/hafan-y-waun/
Thu, 05 Sep 2019 11:51:21 +0000https://stdavids.churchinwales.org.uk/?p=20223MHA homes were founded by Revd Walter Hall and head office is in Derby, England. Since its inception the charity has been supported by the Methodist Church. The charity’s main aim is to give a voice to the older generation and to nurture their physical, mental and spiritual care. I had very little experience of the dementia condition before starting the chaplaincy. I have now received training in a variety of areas as part of my induction.

As a chaplain I am required to support the residents and their relatives, as well as the staff. Every week I hold a bilingual service and it is lovely to see the words of the hymns and psalms flowing back to the memory. I also work closely with the activities team and the music therapist. It is always a pleasure to welcome choirs and performers from local schools. I also work with a number of volunteers including members of Cytûn Waunfawr, Aberystwyth. Cytûn visits the home on a monthly basis and conducts Welsh-language services. I also serve on Sundays as part of the Methodist Church service plan. Ecumenical practice develops entirely naturally within the walls of Hafan y Waun.

Sadly some of our residents will have to say goodbye from time to time. I feel honoured to be able to assist families in arranging a funeral, preparing tributes and often officiating at the funeral service itself. It is a nostalgic time for relatives and staff at the home, and it requires a great deal of sensitivity. The experience of serving in various churches within Ceredigion, as well as working as a teacher and headteacher has helped me in my new role.

When Job was suffering physically and mentally and afflicted his friends came to comfort him. “They sat on the ground with him… No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was.”. Job 2:13.

I thank God for the opportunity to befriend all the residents of Hafan y Waun and as chaplain I have come to “sit with you”.

Dewi is the latest addition to over 100 exhibits of Celtic saints with connections to Brittany at the venue, which attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors each year.

It is thought Dewi travelled extensively through Brittany spreading Christianity on the continent. A number of churches and chapels in the region are dedicated to him.

The statue, hewn from a single piece of granite, stands over ten feet tall and is the creation of Carmarthenshire-based sculptor Paul Kincaid, for whom the ceremony was the culmination of nine months work.

Paul lives in the village of Llansawel, near Llandeilo, and is a warden at St Sawel’s Church.

“It has been a wonderful thing to make,” he said, “but it’s been daunting too. Dewi Sant was a big man and this has been a big task. I only hope I have done him justice”

About a thousand people gathered in the park for the ceremony. Pipe bands led a procession of druids, bards and friends to the statue, which was draped in the traditional black and gold flag of St David.

The statue was unveiled by local schoolchildren. The Director of La Vallee des Saints, Sebastien Minguy, welcomed the lastest addition to his collection, Paul Kincaid spoke about his work and there were songs and poems from, among others, the chaired bard of the 2016 national eisteddfod, Aneirin Karadog.

A simultaneous performance of the Welsh and Breton national anthems by members of the Gorsedd concluded the ceremony.

]]>Messea Baptismhttps://stdavids.churchinwales.org.uk/news/2019/07/messea-baptism/
Mon, 29 Jul 2019 12:46:56 +0000https://stdavids.churchinwales.org.uk/?p=19938When teenager Keiran Wooldridge decided to be baptised, he decided to do it in style.

And so it was that on Sunday (July 28th) he and two other members of the congregation at St Mary’s Church, Kidwelly, took the plunge with a full-immersion ceremony in the sea off nearby Ferryside.

Keiran – who attends Messy Church in Kidwelly – was joined by local councillor Gary Beer and friend James Murphy in the service conducted by priest-in-charge Revd Trevor Copeland.

“Kieran was adamant he wanted full immersion and the others decided to join him, Trevor said, “so we looked around for local lakes and rivers but he was determined that it should take place in the sea. It was a first for all of us and a wonderful occasion.”

A large crowd of church members, family, friends and passers by joined in the service which started on the beach and ended in the Yacht Club a few yards away, followed by a buffet receptin prepared by church members.

]]>Bishop Joanna PhDhttps://stdavids.churchinwales.org.uk/news/2019/07/bishop-joanna-phd/
Wed, 24 Jul 2019 14:22:10 +0000https://stdavids.churchinwales.org.uk/?p=19819The Bishop of St Davids, Joanna Penberthy, has been awarded a doctorate for her thesis on the relationship between science, theology and the world.

She received her accolade at a ceremony at the University of Nottingham on Tuesday July 23rd. with members of her family present.

It’s the culmination of a decade’s study, during which time she has become the first woman Bishop to be appointed in Wales.

The basis for her study was a five-page paper written in 1964 by the physicist John Stewart Bell known as Bell’s Inequality, a mathematical expression that has been a source of controversy and debate ever since it was first published.

It addresses a famous debate between two other notable physicists, Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr, and asserts that if certain predictions of quantum theory are correct then our world is non-local. This means that there exist interactions between events that are too far apart in space and too close together in time for the events to be connected even by signals moving at the speed of light.

Subsequent laboratory tests have confirmed that Bell’s theorem was correct. But the arguments over what that means continue to this day.

“It’s about what Physics tells us about how we interact with the real world,” Bishop Joanna explains. “And reading it, made me realise that theolgians need to get on board.

“If God created the world – as we believe He did – then its His world that scientists are interacting with. If you’re doing theology, you need to understand the world in which we are set.

“I am not a scientist. I approached it first as a historian of science. I did a survey of the background [to] Bell’s paper. Then I did an exegesis of it in order to understand the maths and what Bell’s conclusions were.

“Then I looked at every theologian who had written anything about the paper, surveyed what they said and drew cmy own conclusions – not scientific conclusions because that’s what scientists do. As a theologian all I can do is reflect theologically on it.

So what were her conclusions? “Two really,” she says. “First, it became obvious that facts are as much a result of human interpretation as they are brute things we bump into.

“The scientists’ conclusions about what the Bell experiments mean are determined by philosophical pre-suppositions that they bring to it in the first place – what you put in determines what you get out.

“One of the interpretations made is that we are created co-creators – our actions have significance in making the world fresh, sometimes positively sometimes – like climate change – negatively. But we change things. And God created us to do so.”

]]>The Giant’s Blessinghttps://stdavids.churchinwales.org.uk/news/2019/07/the-giants-blessing/
Thu, 04 Jul 2019 08:59:25 +0000https://stdavids.churchinwales.org.uk/?p=19752A stunning ten-foot high statue of Wales’ patron saint, St David (Dewi Sant) is on its way to Brittany in France as Wales’ contribution to an internationally-acclaimed sculpture park.

The Vallee Des Saints has on display over a hundred Celtic saints, all glorified in granite. St David is the latest to join them.

Its journey into immortality began yesterday (July 3rd) with a blessing by the Bishop of St Davids, Joanna Penberthy, at an event attended by hundreds of villagers and and local dignitaries.

Bishop Joanna is a former parish priest in the village of Llansawel, near Llandeilo, where the statue has been taking shape for the last seven months. She has taken a personal interest in the project, the work of local sculptor and church warden, Paul Kincaid.

“I’m absolutely amazed by it,” she said. “It’s incredible that Paul has produced something so moving, so fluid, so spirit-filled, so human”

The statue is making its way from Llansawl to France by ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff. It will then spend a month touring key pilgrim sites in Brittany before beiung instalkled in La Vallee des Saints on August 11th.

Paul describes the statue as “a wonderful thing to make.” But it has been a daunting task. “St David was a big man in every sense,” he said. “I hope I have done him justice.”

]]>Ordinations in St Davids Diocesehttps://stdavids.churchinwales.org.uk/news/2019/06/ordinations-in-st-davids-diocese/
Sun, 30 Jun 2019 10:29:55 +0000https://stdavids.churchinwales.org.uk/?p=19649Congratulations and blessings to the three Priests and eight Deacons ordained in St Davids Cathedral this Petertide.
]]>Diverse art in sacred spaceshttps://stdavids.churchinwales.org.uk/news/2019/06/diverse-art-in-sacred-spaces/
Sun, 16 Jun 2019 11:42:02 +0000https://stdavids.churchinwales.org.uk/?p=19558A renowned Welsh artist has set a challenge for visitors to churches in Pembrokeshire this summer.

Martin Crampin, from Aberystwyth, has created a series of sixteen tiles based on designs found in St Davids Cathedral.

Four of them are there on display as part of the annual Art on the Faith Trail, which was launched this week in the cathedral and runs until July 31st.

The other twelve are to be found in the eight other churches taking part in the exhibition.

When put together, they form the complete design. The challenge is to visit all the churches and piece them all together using maps and templates which are provided in each church.

Art on the Faith Trail is now in its eighth year. There is no overall theme – the artists select pieces of their work that they feel respond to the setting, the church or the cathedral. The Trail refers to the paths used by the travellers on pilgrimage in the early Christian world making their way to St David’s Cathedral.

The eight churches involved this year, in addition to St Davids Cathedral, are:

St Peter’s, Little Newcastle

St David’s, Llanychaer,

St Gwyndaf’s, Llanwnda

Holy Martyrs, Mathry

St Rhian’s, Llanrhian

St Hywel’s, Llanhywel,

St Aiden’s, Upper Solva

St James the Great, Walwyn’s Castle

Artists taking part include:

Eliot Baron,

Richard Blacklaw-Jones,

Martin Crampin,

Warren Heaton,

Buzz Knapp-Fisher,

Robert Jakes,

Austen Pinkerton,

Miriam Scott [poet],

Nigel Sutton,

Jean Thomas,

Rod Williams and

Tim Williams with new faces

Leah Cross [mixed media]

Jude Howells [photography].

]]>Make all things new – the message of Easterhttps://stdavids.churchinwales.org.uk/news/2019/04/make-all-things-new-the-message-of-easter/
Tue, 16 Apr 2019 10:07:10 +0000https://stdavids.churchinwales.org.uk/?p=19055Brexit? Who knows? Thank God for the call to endure that Holy Week offers. So says the Bishop of St Davids, Joanna Penberthy, in her Easter Message.

“What we do know is that our political landscape will never be the same,” she says. “Whatever transpires, the comfortable assumptions we have lazily made about British fair play and integrity have been exposed and we have to learn afresh how to ensure a political, economic and social system that works for us all and create a public space where truth telling is valued and upheld.

“Holy Week calls us all back to honesty and to brutal reality. As we read the scriptures afresh once more from Palm Sunday and each day through Holy Week, Good Friday and Holy Saturday, we are called to set aside myths, magic and religion.

“As we watch Jesus confronting the religious and political leaders with the stark reality of God’s kingdom, in which he lived and moved and had his being, and see their manoeuvrings and excuses, we have to face again the inescapability of the nails and the brutality of the cross as the place where God’s kingdom and human constructs meet.

“Many of us this year will have lived through pain and suffering that we did not choose and could hardly bear, knowing that God walks with us, but also hardly knowing how that is supposed to help. Holy Week, Good Friday and Holy Saturday remind us that we are called to endure.

“As Christians, by God’s grace, we are called to listen for the call of God’s patient, gentle love and, come what may, to follow its tune. Sometimes all we can do is hold on, sometimes rage, but sometimes rejoice and dance at the glimpses of resurrection and redemption.

“This school of the yearly remembrance of Jesus’ patient endurance and crucifixion culminates, this year as every year in the terrifying, unsettling news: “He is not here, he is risen… he is going before you to Galilee; there you will see him.

“When God raised Jesus from death, it was the beginning of the making real of the promise held out to us in the Revelation to St John 21:5, “Behold I make all things new.” In the death of Mary’s son Jesus, the power of sin and death have been neutered.

“In the resurrection of Jesus, God’s unending, unstoppable Life breaks into our here and now and calls us to face the reality of the love of God with repentance and hope, to receive the love of God with gratitude and joy and to share the love of God in simplicity and faith.

“As we follow again Jesus’ path to Calvary and shout once more the Easter cry, “Alleluia He is risen,” let us have the courage, one day at time, to find him in our Galilees and to live His Risen Life, in faith and hope and love, whatever the future holds.”

]]>Canon Eileen installed as new Archdeacon of Cardiganhttps://stdavids.churchinwales.org.uk/news/2019/04/canon-eileen-to-be-new-archdeacon-of-cardigan/
Tue, 02 Apr 2019 15:08:58 +0000https://stdavids.churchinwales.org.uk/?p=18929One of Wales’ best-known – and best-loved – priests is the new Archdeacon of Cardigan.

Canon Eileen Davies takes over from Dr Will Strange, who retired at the end of May.

She was installed at a service in St Davids Cathedral on June 20th [pictured]

Archdeacon Eileen has won widespread acclaim – and several awards – for her work with farming communities in West Wales. She was the driving force behind the establishment in 2015 of Tir Dewi, which has helped hundreds of farming families facing financial and/or emotional difficulties.

A working farmer herself, she has been the St Davids Diocesan Adviser on Rural Affairs since 2005, the year she was ordained into the priesthood.

The award recognises Canon Patrick’s work with the Armenian community in Wales, and his contribution towards the recognition of the Armenian Genocide.

The medal will be presented by His Grace Bishop Hovakim Manoukyan, Primate of the Armenian Church in Britain and Ireland, at a special trilingual (Armenian, Welsh and English) service in St Davids Cathedral on 28 April at 2pm.

Canon Patrick will give an address about the Armenian Genocide, and prayers will be said by Bishop Hovakim and Bishop Joanna at the Genocide Memorial in the Cloister Garth.

This is not the first time that Canon Patrick’s dedication to the Armenian cause has been recognised. In 2015 he was given a gold medal by the Ministry of the Diaspora of the Republic of Armenia during a service that marked both the centenary of the Genocide and the installation of the beautifully sculptured memorial statue by Cardiff-based Armenian artist Mariam Torosyan.

A film of the event was broadcast as a major item on the Armenian television news. Since then other Anglicans have followed the lead given by St Davids. There are now Armenian Genocide memorials at Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, and Canterbury Cathedral.

Canon Patrick remarked that the award from the Catholicos came as a complete surprise. “It was wonderful to be honoured in this way. The friendship of Armenians in Wales and beyond has been an enormous blessing in recent years, while the Armenian spiritual tradition has been a constant inspiration, particularly in difficult times. I certainly owe far more to the Armenians than they owe to me.”